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Kedarnath : (Hindi: केदारनाथ) is a Hindu holy town located in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is a nagar panchayat in Rudraprayag district. The most remote of the four Char Dham sites, Kedarnath is located in the Himalayas, about 3584m above sea level near the head of river Mandakini, and is flanked by breathtaking snow-capped peaks. Kedarnath hosts one of the holiest Hindu temples, the Kedarnath Temple, and is a popular destination for Hindu pilgrims from all over the world, being one of the four major sites in India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage.
Kedarnath is named in honor of King Kedar who ruled in the Satya Yuga. He had a daughter named Vrinda who was a partial incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi. She performed austerities for 60000 years. In honour of her, the land is named Vrindavan. However, Kedarnath and its temple exist from the Mahabharata Era when the Pandavas are supposed to have pleased Lord Shiva by doing penance there. |
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Badrinath is a Hindu holy town and a nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is the most important of the four sites in India's Char Dham pilgrimage. |
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Nainital (Hindi: नैनीताल) is a town in the Indian state of Uttarakhand and headquarters of Nainital district in the Kumaon foothills of the outer Himalayas. Situated at an altitude of 1,938 metres (6,358 feet) above sea level, Nainital is set in a valley containing a pear-shaped lake, approximately two miles in circumference, and surrounded by mountains, of which the highest are Naina (2,615 m (8,579 ft)) on the north, Deopatha (2,438 m (7,999 ft)) on the west, and Ayarpatha (2,278 m (7,474 ft)) on the south. From the tops of the higher peaks, "magnificent views can be obtained of the vast plain to the south, or of the mass of tangled ridges lying north, bounded by the great snowy range which forms the central axis of the Himalayas." |
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Aligarh (Hindi: अलीगढ़, Urdu: علی گڑھ) is a city in Aligarh District in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city is located about 90 miles (140 km) southeast of New Delhi. It is the administrative headquarters of Aligarh District, Aligarh Police Range and Aligarh Division, and has a population of half a million. It is mostly known as a university town where the famous Aligarh Muslim University is located. The Aligarh division includes Aligarh, Etah, Hathras, and Kanshi Ram Nagar districts. Aligarh has one of the best educational institutes in India. It is popularly known as the 'Mecca of Education'. |
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Mathura (Hindi: मथुरा, IAST: mathurā ( pronunciation (help·info)) is a city in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately 60 km north of Agra, and 150 km south of Delhi; about 12 kilometers from the town of Vrindavan and 20 kilometers from Govardhan. It is the administrative centre of Mathura District of Uttar Pradesh. During the ancient period, Mathura was an economic hub, located at the junction of important caravan routes.
Mathura is the birthplace of Lord Krishna at the centre of Braj or Brij-bhoomi, called Krishna janma-bhoomi, literary 'Krishna's birth place'. The Keshav Dev temple was built in ancient times on the site of Krishna's legendary birthplace (an underground prison). As per the epics Mahabharata and Bhagavata Purana, Mathura was the capital of the Surasena Kingdom, ruled by Kansa the maternal uncle of Krishna. Mathura is also famous as one of the first two centres of production for images of the Buddha, the other being Gandhara in present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan. Human images of the Buddha began to appear at approximately the same time in both centres in the 1st Century AD but can be distinguished from one another as the Gandharan images are very clearly Graeco-Roman in inspiration with the Buddha wearing wavy locks tucked up into a chignon and heavier toga-like robes. The Buddha figurines produced in Mathura more closely resemble some of the older Indian male fertility gods and have shorter, curlier hair and lighter, more translucent robes. |
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Agra (English pronunciation: /ˈɑːɡrə/; Hindi: आगरा, Urdu: آ گرہ) is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India. With a population of 1,686,976 (2010 est.), it is one of the most populous city in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most populous in India. Agra can also refer to the administrative district that has its headquarters in Agra city.
The city finds mention in the epic Mahābhārata where it was called Agrevaṇa, or 'the border of the forest'. Legend ascribes the founding of the city to Rājā Badal Singh (around 1475), whose fort, Badalgarh, stood on or near the site of the present Fort. However, the 11th century Persian poet Mas'ūd Sa'd Salmān writes of a desperate assault on the fortress of Agra, then held by the Shāhī King Jayapala, by Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni. Sultan Sikandar Lodī was the first to move his capital from Delhi to Agra in the year 1506; he died in 1517 and his son Ibrāhīm Lodī remained in power there for nine more years, finally being defeated at the Battle of Panipat in 1526. It achieved fame as the capital of the Mughal emperors from 1526 to 1658 and remains a major tourist destination because of its many splendid Mughal-era buildings, most notably the Tāj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpūr Sikrī, all three of which are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. |
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Jhansi pronunciation (help·info) (marathi: झाशी, Urdu: جھانسی, Hindi: झांसी, is a city of Uttar Pradesh state of northern India. Jhansi is a major road and rail junction, and is the administrative seat of Jhansi District and Jhansi Division. The original walled city grew up around its stone fort, which crowns a neighboring rock.
The National Highway Development Project, initiated by the government of Atal Behari Vajpayee, has sparked Jhansi's development. The North-South Corridor connecting Kashmir to Kanyakumari passes through Jhansi. The East-West corridor also goes through this city, so there has been a sudden rush to infrastructure and real estate development in the city. A greenfield airport is also on the Anvil. |
